Can The Tower be positive?!

SunChariot

Citrin said:
I usually do a reading every Sunday that is supposed to reflect my coming week. I use a spread with 4 cards, where 1. Beginning of the week 2. Middle of the week. 3. End of the week (This would be Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and 4. Advice

A week ago I drew The Tower representing the end of my week. I try to have a positive attitude towards change, and I feel like each card represents a very wide variety of meaning/energies, so it didn’t make me nervous or anything. Today it’s Monday and looking back at the end of last week I’m quite puzzled about that Tower card!

I tend to view The Tower in general like this: Either a surprising, shocking event that you’re not expecting, something the shakes you to the core, and something happens that you have no control over. Or it could mean your ego being beaten down. You’ve been on a bit of an ego trip for a while and now you get brought down because of it.

In daily/weekly readings I tend to see the more mundane meanings of cards, like The Tower could mean a shocking event, but not at all as life changing as the above mentioned…

So I’m puzzled because the end of my week was not negative, shocking or anything like that! It was calm, positive and one thing I found out surprised me but in a very positive way! So what do you think, could The Tower stand for a positive surprise? Or any other thoughts on this? :) Thanks!
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The thing about doing readings on the future is, of course, that the future can change. So if you got The Tower and nothing changed or nothing unusual happened, it just means that the future must have changed since the time you did the reading until the time it played out.

That said, yes The Tower can be positive. All cards can give positive messages. Tarot is a tool to help others, to help solve their problems and to help them feel better, imo. There would be no place in a system designed to do that for cards that are always negative.

That said, The Tower for me is neither negative or positive. It just is. It means a quick sudden change. Of a type that changes things forever. The card itself does not specify what type of change. It could just as easily be a wonderful change for the better as anything else.

A graduation from University can be a Tower event. A happy occasion that is quickly over, just a moment on stage to get your deploma and everything is chanted. So is a marriage. one moment in time where they pronounce you married and you will never be single again. The same as the birth of a child. One moment you are not a parent. A moment later you are for the rest of your life.

The Tower also often represents falling in love for me. ....the two people "falling" in the card. One moment you suddenly realize for the very first time that you are in love with this person, And nothing will ever be the same again,

Babs
 

gregory

Thirteen said:
It's neither negative nor positive ;) The Tower is a sudden realization that things are not what you thought they were. Something that was solid turns out to be made of crummy materials and comes tumbling down. That something may be, as mentioned, prison walls, or someone who wasn't as strong/honest/true as you thought they were, or someone who you thought you couldn't defeat, and yet when you finally say something to them, they crumble.

This happens all the time. What we thought was strong and eternal, turns out to be fake and made of plaster. It falls down and we stare in shock. Whoa. Who knew? We text and call our friends, "I'm in shock right now..." (right?) And after that shock wears away, you will need to decide if you should rebuild the "real" thing that will stand, or walk away and do something else.

So the actual Tower experience is not negative. Nor positive. What makes the experience negative/positive is what came down. Something you were into and loved and wanted to last turning out to be temporary and false, that's negative. Something you disliked and feared would last forever coming down is overwhelmingly positive. The Tower is the surprise and revelation you feel on seeing that this edifice wasn't all you believe it was. It isn't the feelings you've attached to this thing which, after it's falls, will leave you unhappy/happy.

Does that make sense?
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Lord yes - that's an awesome post. I am off to pull a few Tower cards :)
 

jolie_amethyst

Aside from reading the cards with a bit more of a mundane slant, here's the thing I've found about daily/weekly cards--often times they require your own action to make them happen. Looking back at your weekend, was there a situation where more of a Tower event (good or bad) might have occurred if you had done something differently? Was there anything where perhaps you should have tried to provoke something?

This was brought home hard to me recently when I forgot to do my daily draw in the morning one day, and did it in the evening instead. The cards pointed to an impactful day in a good, own-your-own power sort of way, while the day had been one where I had chosen to wallow in an unhappy state...and when I looked at the cards, I knew that by my own unthinking choice, I wasted a chance for a really productive day in parts of my life that could have used it! Had I looked at those cards in the morning, I would have made different, better choices--the places in my day where I could have done so were obvious. Today's cards are similar; I feel awful physically, but the cards are clear that staying in bed all day isn't my best option. So I'll push myself a little harder than I might otherwise to see if I can reach what the cards say is possible.

Things like this are where I tend to think SunChariot's comment about the future changing comes into play. It's not just that things change and a forecasted event fails to occur. Sometimes we have to make things happen ourselves, and most of us shrink from deliberately bringing something like the Tower into our lives.

Just food for thought. Glad to hear that at least the Tower wasn't something catastrophically bad this time! :)
 

PAMUYA

The only thing in life that we can count on is change. Change happens, sometimes we have some control or advance knowledge, sometimes we do not(Tower). How we view things as positive or negative all depends on our state of mind. We can suffer or we can make something good out of it, that is up to you. There is no positive or negative to any card, it is information for us to process ... is the glass half empty or half full? It is always full. Full of positive or negative, 1/2 water, half air, so in reality the glass is always full. As a reader you should not be thinking in positives or negatives (good or bad)....just information. Some people cannot except change so they will suffer, some take on change they will prosper. What is positive to one is a negative to another. Tower is a sudden change, a surprise, something that changes the way you see your world. I see it as "vipaka", the results of a karmic see planted long ago. How you react to this new change determines your future (like any other actions/intentions that you do).
 

Citrin

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback you guys! :) Let’s see if I can reply to all of you lol!

Okay, I wish it was a sex thing… :p Unfortunately none of that for me currently…

One situation does come to mind, because Saturday I suddenly found out (“completely random” lol we know nothing is random, but a lot of people would say so about this…) that my crush is single. I was so sure he had a girlfriend, so discovering that really made me happy. :) Then I might just have a shot ya know hehe… For a long time I’ve thought he is in a relationship so in a way, like Michael Sternbach was saying, it was quite freeing seeing he’s not! It’s not just a crush. It’s like, a huge crush… Or something.

It makes sense seeing what Thirteen wrote: “Something you disliked and feared would last forever coming down is overwhelmingly positive. The Tower is the surprise and revelation you feel on seeing that this edifice wasn't all you believe it was.”

Thirteen, I always looove your card interpretations, they’re amazing, thank you for sharing. :)
 

Citrin

jolie_amethyst said:
Aside from reading the cards with a bit more of a mundane slant, here's the thing I've found about daily/weekly cards--often times they require your own action to make them happen. Looking back at your weekend, was there a situation where more of a Tower event (good or bad) might have occurred if you had done something differently? Was there anything where perhaps you should have tried to provoke something?

This was brought home hard to me recently when I forgot to do my daily draw in the morning one day, and did it in the evening instead. The cards pointed to an impactful day in a good, own-your-own power sort of way, while the day had been one where I had chosen to wallow in an unhappy state...and when I looked at the cards, I knew that by my own unthinking choice, I wasted a chance for a really productive day in parts of my life that could have used it! Had I looked at those cards in the morning, I would have made different, better choices--the places in my day where I could have done so were obvious. Today's cards are similar; I feel awful physically, but the cards are clear that staying in bed all day isn't my best option. So I'll push myself a little harder than I might otherwise to see if I can reach what the cards say is possible.

Things like this are where I tend to think SunChariot's comment about the future changing comes into play. It's not just that things change and a forecasted event fails to occur. Sometimes we have to make things happen ourselves, and most of us shrink from deliberately bringing something like the Tower into our lives.

Just food for thought. Glad to hear that at least the Tower wasn't something catastrophically bad this time! :)
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I can see what you mean here. Life's been hectic and stressful for me lately, so this weekend I wanted nothing more than to sleep a lot and just full out relax! So my intent was set on relaxing and taking it easy, not taking on a Tower event. ;) Perhaps if I had decided to go out party with friends something more dramatic would've occured. So I agree, we can definitely take action when it comes to future-oriented readings.
 

Citrin

PAMUYA said:
The only thing in life that we can count on is change. Change happens, sometimes we have some control or advance knowledge, sometimes we do not(Tower). How we view things as positive or negative all depends on our state of mind. We can suffer or we can make something good out of it, that is up to you. There is no positive or negative to any card, it is information for us to process ... is the glass half empty or half full? It is always full. Full of positive or negative, 1/2 water, half air, so in reality the glass is always full. As a reader you should not be thinking in positives or negatives (good or bad)....just information. Some people cannot except change so they will suffer, some take on change they will prosper. What is positive to one is a negative to another. Tower is a sudden change, a surprise, something that changes the way you see your world. I see it as "vipaka", the results of a karmic see planted long ago. How you react to this new change determines your future (like any other actions/intentions that you do).
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I agree with you, though after reading tarot for 11 years I feel like I have this personal bond with some of the cards, and their meaning TENDS TO go in a positive or negative direction. For example, I view the Seven of Swords as a positive card most of the time! I know most readers wouldn't. :) But overall I agree that the tarot is NOT black and white! Each card is a rainbow in my opinion.

Love seeing how lots of you have such a diverse view of The Tower! :) It's giving me lots of food for thought.
 
Moon as advice Justice + Devil